Tyre Time Again

It's that time again , the ever reliable Landcruiser 80 Series needs new shoes , I have narrowed
It down to two brands but would appreciate anyone's opinion on their best runs from a tyre
I do about 40 k a year , about 50/50 Road to track , sometimes towing about 2 tonne of Jayco Outback.
Currently running Pirelli 265/70/16's. Really happy with 67000 Klms on them , but this time want
something more aggressive but not a full muddy and in a 75 series.
As usual 1 mate swears by his Coopers , 1 loves his new Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac with the Kevlar side walls ,
I have previously run BFG , but love what I read about the Mickey Thompson ATZ's

My call is either the Goodyear's or the Mickeys in a 265/75/16

Goodyears. $405 per tyre
Mickey's. $380

Thoughts. ?

Rick,
Check out the Toyo Open Country A/T II, looks the goods,
Also Bridgestone Dueler A/T 697. I did Simpson and Cape York towing a camper using the older Dueler 693 light truck construction with not one tyre issue. They were 75 series, not sure if the're still available .
Cheers Adrian.

OzzieAu said:

Rick,
Check out the Toyo Open Country A/T II, looks the goods,
Also Bridgestone Dueler A/T 697. I did Simpson and Cape York towing a camper using the older Dueler 693 light truck construction with not one tyre issue. They were 75 series, not sure if the're still available .
Cheers Adrian.

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Ha Ha

Should have just asked you mate , reckon you would know a thing or two about tyres,
will look into the Toyo's as you are the second person to give them a wrap .

Cheers

I'm running Mickey Thompson ATZ's on my 75 series Landcruiser, very happy with them, got them a few months before I did the trip to Cairns and then tried them out on all sorts of terrain around the Cairns area and then on the Hodgkinson and Palmer River goldfields and did the trip back to Brissy all without any issue.

Very happy with the 697's on the Prado.

Had Bridge dueler 693's before and was happy with them , and was going to get the 697's this time round , though ive read general opinion that they are not quite as good as the 693's , which I cant see why, as it is basically just a different tread pattern.

however this time I decided to try the MAXXIS bravo 980 A/T , which is pretty much a clone of the Goodrich A/T's though the tread is deeper and a bit more open.

So far so good , got about 10,000 on them now , if I get 50-60,000 out of them ill be happy , especially when they were only $220 a tyre .

With the insane prices they want for mickey's and the like I can just about buy 2 sets of the MAXXIS' .

I'm running them on a Hilux , not sure about Lancruiser size availability.

Dirtdemon said:

Had Bridge dueler 693's before and was happy with them , and was going to get the 697's this time round , though ive read general opinion that they are not quite as good as the 693's , which I cant see why, as it is basically just a different tread pattern.

however this time I decided to try the MAXXIS bravo 980 A/T , which is pretty much a clone of the Goodrich A/T's though the tread is deeper and a bit more open.

So far so good , got about 10,000 on them now , if I get 50-60,000 out of them ill be happy , especially when they were only $220 a tyre .

With the insane prices they want for mickey's and the like I can just about buy 2 sets of the MAXXIS' .

I'm running them on a Hilux , not sure about Lancruiser size availability.

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I have to say that the Maxxis bravo 771 ATs that I have on the Navara are still going strong with 60,000klm on them. Got these for the Prado before I traded her and made the dealership change them over as they were fresh, if I remember I paid $180 each from BJ. Went back recently to price up replacements and they would not give me a price??? Kept trying to get me to buy a set of general ATs.

Maxxis 980s', have not seen this number before, will check it out.

Peter.

Good timing, I am in the market as well for my Prado and I am in a bit of what to do as well.

In the past I have had the Cooper AT's and 2 sets were great, but the third set when I had the wheels rotated and balanced I could not get the slight pull to the right out of the car and this was most annoying, that car is gone now, but not sure about this issue ?

I have been looking at the top end of town as well, but as mentioned I can get 2 x tyres for the price of 1 of the higher end. I don't see double the life ? I have been looking at a more MT tyre due to my dislike of changing tyres in the bush on 45' days. So I will trade the cons.

Luckily for any of my touring I have plenty of room, I have just secured another rim for the car so I now have 2 spares on same rims. One on the back and one on the roof rack or behind the back seat.

Simple maths and the good word going around I am leading to give the maxxis a try.

6 x $250~ = $1500
6 x $450~ = $2700 !

With two spares, once rotation is due they will go on, so two new tyres, and so on, so I imagine a long life this way.

FWIW The MT-764 and AT-980 look to be the two that I am making a decision between.

http://www.maxxistyres.com.au/tyredetails.php?id=43&cat=4

http://www.maxxistyres.com.au/tyredetails.php?cat=3&id=83

I am running the Toyo open country's on my 4x4 van. Done around 30,000k's in the last 2 months around oz and a lot of 4x4 tracks. Still plenty of meat left on them. Had Mickey Thompson ATZ's before the Toyo's and their a great tyre too but they no longer made them in the size I was after hence the dealer recommended the Toyo's.

Coopers have changed big time, I would not touch them with a barge pole anymore.
I put a set of st's??? (at's??) on and after one trip away, (1000 k's) they were chipped and looked buggered...
I took em back to Tyre power, and they said it was my fault because I had over inflated them....
When I insisted that I hadn't touched them, they were as put on by them, they said there was nothing they could do...take it up with Coopers!!
I did, and that got me no where....
They told me that going from 16 mm tread, to 9 mm in just over 1000 ks was normal.....
Anyway, less than 20,000 ks on a set and I swore to the Coopers rep that I would bag the Coopers tyre brand to who ever would listen, for the rest of my years....
To which he replied, 'whatever, we have a bigger name than you......'
So.... Coopers are shite...

I have a set of goodyear wrangler mtr kevlars in 35" on a 15" rim.
They are a very well made tyre (usa) they bag out great for beach driving. The compound is quite soft being a mud tyre so dont expect 60,000km unless you like to wear them right down past half tread.

I am on my second set, they are not a noisy mud tyre on road.
I sold my first set with around 50% for $700. (Tyres only)

Very strong sidewall, i have a mate with mickey thompsons and have personally seen 2 sidewall failures/punctures.

I did get a puncture once driving on a sharp quartz track with road pressure in the tyres (my own fault) but that is the only thing after 60,000+ km on these type of tyre.

Good quality, i wouldn't be worried in the slightest using these tyres in remote Aus.

Another vote for maxxis here, I have a set of bighorns on my 90series prado which have been good. Getting toward 50k on them and will have to change them in the next 10-15k. Great off road tyres, got a few nicks and chips from sharp rocks which is normal for a soft mud tyre. Will go with maxxis again probably the buckshot next time for a bit less road noise. Cant help you with towing info as I dont tow anything with my 4wd.
I do know that they make the buckshot in two side wall thicknesses 6ply and 8ply in the 265/75R16 size.
Hope this helps you. TGW

I'm currently running cooper AT's on my hilux that are 60k old , so I'm very interested in what you guys have to say. Simmo I to have heard the coopers aren't what they used to be even though these ones have served me well. For me it's a toss up between the maxxis big horns or the MTZ's , as has been mentioned the MTZ's are very expensive compared to the big horns and will the MTZ's last much longer than the bighorns ? Interested if anyone has driven either of these tyres in the wet (bitumen) and how they behave ?

Not sure about the bighorns , though I know a fair few people that use them and give them a good wrap .

I nearly put a set on this time , but went for the all terrain 980's this time round but might try the bighorns next change .

the 980's have been good so far , haven't chipped out at all , handle good in the wet .

was going to go the AT 771's but guy at the shop told me the 980's were a bit harder compound and a deeper more aggressive tread , I put the 980 alongside a Goodrich A/T , which it is basically a copy of , and the 980 had deeper tread and was a bit more spaced tread than the Goodrich , and the price difference sold me.

Havent had them in proper slick mud yet , or beach type sand , but im sure they will perform as good if not better than the bridgestone 693's I had on last change.

So far ive been pretty impressed with them.

Bighorns are good for what you pay, great in sloppy mud - sidewall grip as good as BFGs, great in the dry dirt tracks, ok but not amazing inthe soft sand, not really designed for rock crawling so be prepared to lose a few chunks on step ups and such, good on road grip but very noisy for the first few 1000ks then normal or slightly above depending on width once they wear in a bit.
Best part is I wont be sobbing uncontrollably when it comes time to get new ones.

Reeks said:

I have a set of goodyear wrangler mtr kevlars in 35" on a 15" rim.
They are a very well made tyre (usa) they bag out great for beach driving. The compound is quite soft being a mud tyre so dont expect 60,000km unless you like to wear them right down past half tread.

I am on my second set, they are not a noisy mud tyre on road.
I sold my first set with around 50% for $700. (Tyres only)

Very strong sidewall, i have a mate with mickey thompsons and have personally seen 2 sidewall failures/punctures.

I did get a puncture once driving on a sharp quartz track with road pressure in the tyres (my own fault) but that is the only thing after 60,000+ km on these type of tyre.

Good quality, i wouldn't be worried in the slightest using these tyres in remote Aus.

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Yep they are Number 1 in the UK and Are Standard Fitment on the G4 Global Challenge Landrover Team VEE HIC ALLS.

Good Tyres Just the Same,, john

I've tried a few different brands but will stick to Maxxis now! I've got the Bighorns on my 5lt injected V8 80 series Cruiser and love their performance on and off road. we run Maxxis on the trucks and utes/cars at work too................ very good value for money

stoneage said:

I've tried a few different brands but will stick to Maxxis now! I've got the Bighorns on my 5lt injected V8 80 series Cruiser and love their performance on and off road. we run Maxxis on the trucks and utes/cars at work too................ very good value for money

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You ain't got Lights on that Truck, Love It.

John

Ridge Runner said:

stoneage said:

I've tried a few different brands but will stick to Maxxis now! I've got the Bighorns on my 5lt injected V8 80 series Cruiser and love their performance on and off road. we run Maxxis on the trucks and utes/cars at work too................ very good value for money

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You ain't got Lights on that Truck, Love It.

John

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yep... with the amount of roos around here I like to see a little way up the road. 8)

I run 285/75/16 on a 100 series and used maxxis bighorns got 80000 and never had an issue $350 a tyre been to the cape twice with them